1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same and more particularly, to a semiconductor device having a multilayer wiring structure and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional multilayer interconnection structure of a semiconductor device will be described with reference to FIG. 3. A first aluminum wiring 2 is formed on a semiconductor substrate 1, and an interlayer insulating film 3 whose main components are silicon oxide film is formed over the aluminum wiring 2. A second aluminum wiring 4 formed on the interlayer insulating film 3 is electrically connected to the first aluminum wiring 2 via a contact hole 5 opened in the insulating interlayer film 3 so as to electrically connect the first aluminum wiring and the second aluminum wiring.
The yield (conduction probability) of conduction decreases rapidly as the diameter of the contact hole 5 becomes very small as shown in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, line (1) passing through white circles represents the case where the second aluminum wiring is deposited after sputter etching, and line (2) passing through black circles represents the case without sputter etching. As seen from line (2), there scarcely occurs conduction with the contact hole diameter of 1 micron, namely the conduction yield becomes 99.9 % or less. The reason for this is that after the contact hole 5 is formed, the surface of the first aluminum wiring 2 is in contact with air through the contact hole 5 until the second aluminum wiring 4 is formed thereon so that an alumina layer is formed on the surface of the first aluminum wiring 2 to prevent conduction between the first and second aluminum wirings 2 and 4. However, as the diameter of the contact hole 5 becomes large, it is likely for the alumina layer to have some defects such as pin holes or cracks through which conduction between the first and second aluminum wirings is allowed. In consideration of this, conventionally the alumina layer on the first aluminum wiring 2 has been removed by sputter etching with Ar ions. Thereafter, while shielding the alumina layer from air, i.e., maintaining in vacuum, the second aluminum wiring 4 is formed on the alumina layer under the same vacuum condition. With the above processes, the conduction yield was made in the order of 99.99 % even with the contact hole diameter of 1 micron as shown in FIG. 4, at line (1).
To further improve the yield of conduction, various sputter etching methods are now being developed. Although the conduction yield can be improved by such methods, it has been found that another problem may arise. Namely, where the first aluminum wiring 2 is connected to the gate electrode, a great amount of Ar ions through the sputter etching are implanted in the first aluminum wiring 2 via the contact hole 5 so that the gate oxide film is charged and destroyed. Such damage due to ion implantation becomes more serious as semiconductor devices become finer and the gate oxide film becomes thinner.
As stated above, the conventional method of performing Ar ion sputter etching and removing the alumina layer on the aluminum wiring at the contact hole still poses the problem such as destroying the gate oxide film.